A family story of China’s failed experiment — My mother remembers exactly the moment when her childhood ended. Life had already fallen apart in China when my mother was born in 1948. The Japanese invasion had ravaged the country for eight years in the midst of the Chinese Civil War that ended with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)…

A call to action to reject DEI rhetoric that tells us otherwise — I listened to an online lecture, whereby the speaker passionately advocated for more diversity and representation in the workplace. More diversity in the Board Room; more diversity in the C suite; more diversity in high places. In making a case for quotas, she proclaimed, “Because you cannot aspire to be…

A Collection of Palatable Stories of Growing Up — There is something about a sizzling bowl of soup that awakens our senses and unlocks the brain’s hippocampus. In fact, evolution has wired humans in such a way so that food often taps into our memory reservoir. Three soups come to mind when I reflect on the road of my…

And other bedtime tales from my son’s lair — “Mommy can you tell me a story of the Big Bad Wolf?” “Sure, honey — the one about the Three Little Pigs?” “No no…not that one. I want a new one.” “A new one? I don’t think I know any new Big Bad Wolf stories.” “Can you make up one…

Lessons from a Costa Rican Coffee Farm — “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it is attached to the rest of the world.” — John Muir, co-founder of the Sierra Club and Father of the National Park System A pickup truck rumbled over the road as a small ball of light illuminated the…

Taking the aggression out of microaggressions “Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes.” — President Obama Chug…

And why I choose the supernatural over the rational mind — It was another sweltering day in Guangzhou, China. My brother and I stayed in while my mom and aunt, with whom we were living, went to the market. …

Making it in the Land of Opportunity — I heard a gong-like bang that shook the floor. Abandoning my homework, I hopped off my chair and sped around the hallway into the kitchen. My uncle, glimmering in sweat, waved at me and said in Cantonese: mo see mo see (冇事,冇事) — It’s nothing! It’s nothing! Apparently the cover…

A reflection on finding spirituality — On a beautiful spring morning in May 2022, I called 911 to rush my husband to the emergency room. My son whimpered in his bedroom. I gently closed his door as I assured him that the commotion he was hearing was the doctor taking daddy to the doctor’s office. The…